It has since occurred to us, however, that there are two problems here.

First, these lines don’t quite scan; in a conventionally formed limerick, the first two lines have nine syllables, the next two have six apiece and the closing line again has nine. Our first two lines had eight syllables apiece.

Second, we weren’t the first to come up with the initial line. It turns out that on April Fool’s Day of this year, Dollar Bill Hiccup had posted this, in a comment on Zero Hedge: